


Return to Felwinter Peak

by DarkJediQueen



Series: The Guardians [70]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Crossover, Death, Genocide, M/M, Science Fantasy, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-09-04
Packaged: 2020-10-07 00:04:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20515736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkJediQueen/pseuds/DarkJediQueen
Summary: Lord Saladin has called Aaron and Spencer to defend an abandoned mountaintop observatory from a Fallen assault. For Aaron, it's a walk into a past that he's not ready to face yet.





	Return to Felwinter Peak

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rivermoon1970](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivermoon1970/gifts).

> **Year**: The Far Future  
**Spoilers**: Destiny: Through D2: Black Armory, Criminal Minds: Up Through Season 14  
**Notes**: Trying my hardest to make sure that it'll make sense, with time, for people who don't play Destiny but you can find more information at the [Destiny Wikia](http://destiny.wikia.com/wiki/Destiny_Wiki). Some Dialogue is taken directly from the source material.  
**Beta**: Grammarly

Aaron waited where the coordinates told him to wait. He wanted to go up and take on whatever was the peak. To kill whatever was desecrating the land that was his and Lord Saladin's but he waited. There were steps on the snow but not Human steps. He reached down as he crouched. Helo settled in at his side. Luna, on the other bumping into him.

"They wouldn't stay back," Spencer said. He was a good distance back.

"I'm not shocked. This was their home for a long time. They have a right to defend it as much as I do."

"Lord Saladin made an all channels announcement. Do you want to hear?"

"Yes."

"In the years after the Collapse...the world had no Guardians. It had only Iron Lords. Immortal. Fearless. We fought to protect the survivors of a once-great age. Our battle was about more than crawling back from the shadows. The Iron Lords would give Humanity back its future. Some know the legend. But no one truly knows how the Iron Lords died their final deaths. That...was something you had to be there for...To witness...to remember. To know even heroes can die...and survival is not always a victory. Now, Lord Hotchner and I are the lone sentries. And our watch is eternal...waiting for the day when whatever we disturbed awakens. The Iron Lords are gone...but our fight is far from over." Lord Saladin sounded so alone to Aaron, and he understood why. He had been the one to witness the final deaths of so many Iron Lords that it was hard to comprehend. There was no coming back from their deaths. They and their Ghosts were long gone, the Light had left them to the Darkness.

"He wants us to see what is going on up there. I've not been back since the last time we went up there."

"I have more information," G.A.R.C.I.A. said.

"Lay it on us," Dave said.

Aaron turned around to see him there. He didn't like that he hadn't noticed the other man being with Spencer. A trio was going to be better if this was S.I.V.A. being released.

"The House of Devils is back, and they're digging into Golden Age research labs all across the system. This isn't a simple smash-and-grab--they're on a mission. At first, the Vanguard wasn't particularly concerned. At least, not until the Devils decided to move back into the Cosmodrome. Now the Devils are shifting a massive amount of resources to an area nearby that's been dark for centuries! Normally I'd say this is just another day..." G.A.R.C.I.A. sounded a little too excited. "Except...what's really got everyone talking is that Lord Saladin has left his post at the Iron Banner to take charge of the situation personally! Only rather than go straight to the Cosmodrome, Saladin wants us to investigate an abandoned observatory in the mountains. Very strange..."

"This is the seat of the Iron Lords. If what we are thinking is happening, G.A.R.C.I.A., then we have to see what is going on here. It's going to be a trek as we don't have sensors in the area to allow us to Transmat up there. If this area becomes the seat of this mission, then we will do that, but for now, let's head up." Aaron turned around to look at Dave again. "You know how to walk in the snow, right?"

"Yes, Aaron. I know how to walk in the snow and not create avalanches."

"Transmission from Lord Saladin."

"Aaron, a group of Fallen has captured Felwinter Peak. My team and I are en route, but we won't get there in time. I need you to secure the Observatory at the top. It is imperative the Fallen do not establish a foothold on that mountain. You know why."

"Your will is my command." Aaron saw that the comm channel on Saladin's side went silent, but he wasn't disconnected. "They will be trying to take Vostok Observatory."

"What would the Fallen want in an abandoned outpost?" G.A.R.C.I.A. asked.

"Things that would have been better left alone," Aaron said. He looked up at his old home, before he had built one inside of the Last City with Spencer and then with Jack. With the team. He had thought that he had found his forever home at Felwinter Peak. Now the Fallen were going to desecrate everything in their quest for things that they did not understand.

"Do you want to lead?" Spencer asked.

"Of course he's going to lead. Why wouldn't he?" Dave asked.

"Actually, Spencer leads most of the time, but he's right that I should this time. I know the path, and it would be easy to get turned around and to get lost. We need to get up there ASAP, so the Fallen don't get the time needed to do anything foolish." Aaron got his Scout Rifle ready. He looked back at Spencer and pointed at the Pulse Rifle on his shoulder. Spencer unslung it and got it ready. He looked at Dave. "Shotgun wouldn't go bad with the weapons you currently have on. You can use it and the Hand Cannon at the same time, right?"

"Yes." Dave actually sounded a little more worried than he usually was.

"Good." Aaron had his Hand Cannon on his hip ready if he needed it. He had no clue to expect when they got up there, but they were well stocked on weapons with which to defend themselves. "There is a gondola near our location. We are going to take it up to the Observatory."

"Is that safe?" Spencer asked.

"Yes. I can out sniper a Fallen on any day. You have your scout rifle so you'll be able to help if needed."

Shanks was the first Fallen that they came across. More arrived after defending the first area they came across. The whole of the mountain was in much need of some tender love and care. Aaron hated seeing it the way that it was, but there was no reason to bring the Fallen there to route out the secrets that Saladin and Aaron were protecting.

Aaron took out the Captain that was defending the whole area from the back while the Dregs rushed them. It wasn't long before everything was dead.

Spencer rushed over to the gondola and started to tap on the buttons to get it going again. G.A.R.C.I.A. floated into the machine and worked from that end.

"Whoa, this hasn't been activated for more than four hundred years!" G.A.R.C.I.A. cried out.

"Yes, Spencer and I came up a different way last time, but that way takes long and isn't nearly as easy as this way." Aaron kept his eye on the area to make sure no Fallen came around again.

"With this sort of reception, it might be a touch ambitious to think we can secure the entire observatory," Dave said.

"There's a courtyard in the rear of the facility. If we can secure that, we should be able to keep them from the Iron Temple until Lord Saladin, and his team arrived.

"The Iron Lords had a temple?"

"It's where we honored those who died to keep Humanity alive," Aaron said.

Dave said nothing else.

Aaron kept his eyes on the cliffs that were on either side of them. For the snipers that he knew were going to be there. He wouldn't be shocked by anything really, but there was no way that the Fallen were not protecting whatever they were doing on the peak. Aaron spotted one and got his Scout Rifle ready to fire.

"Watch out!" G.A.R.C.I.A. said two seconds after fired and dropped the first Vandal that he saw. He kept on firing tuning out the words that G.A.R.C.I.A. said and anything that was said in response. He had learned at Saladin's hands to tune out everything except what was needed to get the job done. The fine art of sniping had been lost for a long time as there was no use for it after the Collapse. The Warlords protected their Ghosts, and there was no sense in killing the same person over and over for them just to come back as soon as their body was dragged away. It was how Aaron had taken out his father's, waiting for the right moment when his father had been paying too much attention to other things.

The rocking of the gondola got Aaron's attention. He turned around to see that there was a hole in the side of the gondola.

"We can't take another hit like that--jump!" G.A.R.C.I.A. said.

Aaron grabs Dave and shoves him out of the gondola and then before he can grab Spencer, Spencer is flinging himself out of it. Aaron chuckles a little, it comes out darker than what he would like, given everything but he follows behind his lover. Aaron is barely holding on to the emotions that are inside of him. He couldn't let go, or he would just break down. Everything that he had nearly given his life for was trying to escape again. The Fallen were stupid idiots and were going to unleash the death of everything. S.I.V.A. didn't care if they were human, Fallen, Hive, or Cabal. It wasn't to infect and destroy everything. The only race that Aaron was slightly sure might make it were the Taken. They were energy and energy couldn't be infected as S.I.V.A. currently was. Aaron could see that changing though.

The fall took seconds, but when Aaron was landing, he knew that the area was unstable from the concussive blast from the Fallen Skiff. There could be an avalanche easily.

"Dave, do not use your Machine Gun, no matter what. This area could go off at any point."

"You got it." Dave looked around.

"I guess we are hoofing it?" Spencer asked.

"Yes. Stay behind me."

"I don't understand," G.A.R.C.I.A. said. "If there's something so important up there, why wasn't the Vanguard protecting the Temple all these years?"

"This place and its secrets are my responsibility," Saladin said.

The comm connection went silent again.

"What he means to say is that a secret is only a secret if no one knows about it. Who is going to look for anything in an abandoned temple? It's obvious that it's a post Collapse facility so Saladin hoped that no one would go looking for anything there. What you don't know exists, you can't look for." Aaron waited for her to even Spencer to say anything, but they didn't. Spencer understood. Aaron knew that he had other secrets in his head that he didn't tell anyone, not even him. Aaron was glad to let him keep those.

Aaron hustled up the side of the mountain, only slowing for the areas where it was dangerous to go fast. Aaron slowed as he heard a Skiff approaching as he made his way around a sharp corner of the mountain where the walking path was barely wide enough to put one foot on it much less trying to move a whole body around it. There was a Dreg with it's back to him. He reached out and shoved with the Light inside of him. Attacking it. He heard the bones breaking with the attack and watched as the Dreg fell down dead. It made the rest of the Fallen in the area focus on him. He rushed forward, drawing their attacks toward him as he cleared the area for Spencer and Dave to follow behind and get around the corner.

The Fallen were not expecting them, or at least not expecting them from that way. They had more than likely found other paths but hadn't bothered with this one.

"Y'know... this is more than a few Fallen. Just for the record," G.A.R.C.I.A. said.

"We cannot afford even one to claim what lies on that mountain," Aaron said. He knew that this was more than what he thought was going to be there, but that could just be because they had headed up the mountain. The Fallen were going to defend what they felt was theirs. Aaron was going to make sure that they knew that this wasn't theirs, and it never would be.

Even the Fallen couldn't stand long enough to hurt any of the three of them that much. Aaron was full of fire to defend the home that he used to claim. He rushed forward, running as fast as he could toward the Observatory. He wasn't sure what he was going to find. Aaron heard the crunch of snow behind him that told him that Spencer was at least keeping up with him. Dave had to be behind Spencer.

Aaron stopped when he saw the framework of a building. There was something just under the sound of the blowing wind that was whipping around everywhere. He almost didn't place it until it was too late. He was too late to defend himself, though. Spencer shoved him back and jumped in front meeting the Stealth Vandal with his blades crossed to protect himself. Aaron saw the slight distortion of at least two more moving around.

"Now?" Dave asked.

"Yes." Aaron started to move backward as he heard Dave's Machine Gun being primed. Spencer parried off a blow from the Vandal he was fighting and gutted it before dropping down to the ground so that Dave could fire his gun and not hit him. There was no risk of an avalanche where they were, so it was a good weapon. Three other Stealth Vandals fell from Dave's near-constant fire from the Machine Gun.

There were more Fallen being dropped on the other side of the building, so Aaron rushed that way, keeping an ear out for the sound of the Stealth Vandals in the area. There was no more, but more Shanks were dropped down. As Aaron engaged them, he heard a strange sound. It was almost like a laugh, a deep and menacing mechanical laugh. Aaron didn't like it.

"Be careful...picking something up nearby." G.A.R.C.I.A. sounded worried. Aaron was worried as well.

There was a lot more Fallen infesting every single building in the area. Aaron came around, and he could see the Iron Temple through the snowstorm that was blowing around the area. His heart clenched. He had said goodbye to it when he and Spencer had gone there. He had said goodbye to a lot of things then. If the Fallen got what they wanted, the Iron Lords sacrifice was going to be for nothing. Stolen years that Humanity used to expand only to be snuffed out by a threat so horrible. Aaron engaged a Captain that was on the landing pad, and he made sure that it died as quick as possible. It was hiding whatever was making that sound. Or whatever was making that sound was hiding behind the Captain. Spencer and Dave were good at taking out the Dregs and Shanks while Aaron focused on the Captain.

Aaron pushed forward when there was no more red on his tracker. He looked for more red and found that there was a large cluster not too far away. He came around a corner and stopped as he took in the Servitor that was floating there. It was half gone, but the parts that it had been replaced with made Aaron's stomach clench.

"Servitor!--Wait..." G.A.R.C.I.A. trailed off as she had to have scanned it. "No."

"Sepiks," Spencer said.

"What?" Dave questioned.

"We destroyed this thing once before. Before it was taken over by S.I.V.A.," Spencer answered.

"That's what that is?" Dave asked.

Aaron didn't say anything. He started to fire at Sepiks as soon as he got within range with his Scout Rifle.

"The data I am getting over the Fallen comm network says that his name is Sepiks Perfected."

"Meaning that adding in S.I.V.A. perfected him," Spencer said. He was firing at the Fallen that were flooding out from where Sepiks had been before he teleported to be in closer range.

Aaron said nothing as he swapped to his Hand Cannon for a more fulfilling hit on the damned Servitor.

"There's something odd in the energy signature! It's not Fallen, but it's regenerating!"

"Did you say it's regenerating?!" Saladin said emphatically. "Kill Sepiks, Guardians! Kill it now!"

Aaron watched as Sepiks got bored with them and teleported away. He rushed after him. Aaron knew exactly where it was headed. It was not good that a Servitor had got its servers on S.I.V.A. It was not good at all. Aaron drew his sword, slinging his Scout Rifle over his shoulder. He hacked and slashed at every single Fallen that got in his way as he rushed to the Temple doors just as he heard the sounds of heavy weapon fire onto the stone.

"If that's what I think it is, the Temple doors will not be strong enough to hold it back! You must destroy it before that happens! Do not let Sepiks enter that Temple!"

Aaron didn't answer that he couldn't think of how to form words. His whole focus on was on getting to the Temple before Sepiks made it inside. Aaron wasn't even sure that he killed anything as he hacked at them. He kept them from attacking him, and that was enough. He knew that Spencer and Dave would take care of the rest of it. Aaron sprinted across the bridge, glad that it was in good enough repair that it didn't break on him and sending him crashing down to the ground miles below. The sword wasn't going to do him any good against Sepiks, so when he made it to the top of the steps, he threw his sword down and drew his Patience and Time. He fired at a near-constant rate at Sepiks' eye.

"Detecting reinforcements approaching your coordinates!" Saladin called out over the comms.

Aaron heard Spencer and Dave started to fire at the Fallen that were getting off the Skiff. Aaron kept focused on Sepiks, keeping its attention on him and not on the doors to the Temple.

"You must hold the mountain, Guardians!"

Aaron changed out his magazine and started to fire again. Sepiks exploded and began to spin like all Servitors did when they died. Arc energy wrapped around the body as it spun faster and faster.

"All this trouble to break into an old temple?" G.A.R.C.I.A. asked.

Aaron turned around as he heard a ship breaking atmosphere and watched as a ship got close and Saladin transmatted out of the ship. He had a Machine Gun in his hand, and Aaron recognized it as Jolder's. He shot at and killed the last two Vandals that were left.

"Even old wolves still bite," Saladin said as he stepped up to Aaron. He nodded at Aaron before passing by him toward the doors. "Shiro, what's your status?"

"Circling around to make sure the area's clear. Be there in a sec," a voice said over the comms.

"Well done, Guardians. Lord Hotchner. The Temple is secure. Now we can--" Saladin stopped as a hissing noise filled the area.

Aaron looked to see Sepiks rising up, and the red veins of S.I.V.A. on its body were pulsing. Aaron raised his Sniper Rifle to fire, but Sepiks teleported away.

"Shiro! Get a lock on him!" Saladin commanded.

"Just picked up--wait...Multiple impacts near the wall in Sector 17!" Shiro said over the comms.

"They're attacking the sensor grid. They must know where S.I.V.A. is! Guardian, go to the Cosmodrome immediately! If Sepiks escapes, the Fallen won't be our only problem!"

"Let's go!" Aaron said as he turned toward where he knew it was safe for Ceres Galliot to pick them up. They had to get to the Cosmodrome as soon as possible. Aaron could feel that Spencer wanted to talk to Aaron, but there wasn't time, and Aaron needed to stay focused.

Aaron would talk when it was time. When it was a good time for him to break down. His nightmares were coming to life and while Aaron knew that Spencer understood that. There was a fine line that Aaron was walking. He was about to pass the line where he wasn't going to be able to do anything to help anyone if he stepped another step over it.

# The End

**Author's Note:**

> I write fanfiction for fun. It's a hobby and a stress relief. I refuse to stress over my writing. What you see is what you get. Errors, plot holes, and all. Thank you for reading my story!
> 
> I can be found on MeWe [here](https://mewe.com/i/beccaqueen1), join me there and we can discuss my fics and whatnot.


End file.
